(...) In this paper, I propose accordingly to examine one or two conservative(socialist) arguments against the market order , not in terms of efficiency, but other values, which, it is alleged, market supporters cannot take into account. I will do this with special reference to Hegel, as he seems to inspire many contemporary non-Marxian critics of capitalism.

Hegel's Anaysis of Civil Society

The problem with capitalism, as perceived by Hegelians, is this: if society is to be legitimate, there has to be "universality"; in other words, a sense of citizenship, of people identifying with the state. But in capitalism, or as Hegel called it, civil society,[1] there is only "particularity"; human relationships are based on self-interest, on the mutual fulfilling of needs, not on any common identity. Civil society is a society of strangers. Thus, a sense of loss, or alienation, is created. Some members of the community do not feel as its members, they experience the community as something external and unintelligible. There is, then, a conflict between what Adam Smith called the "commercial spirit," and ethical community in which man can fulfill his role as man. It is a conflict between civil society and the state that can only be overcome by a Hegelian Aufhebung of civil society into the state. Translated into modern terms, this means an interventionist state, correcting the outcomes of the "blind" play of the market forces. (...)